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Voluntary Service Overseas
What is Voluntary Service Overseas ? - VSO
VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Our vision is a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfil their potential.
We bring people together to share skills, creativity and learning to build a fairer world.
VSO welcomes volunteers from an ever increasing range of countries, backgrounds and ages. National agencies in Canada, Kenya, the Netherlands and the Philippines recruit volunteers from many different countries worldwide and this international approach allows us to combine and learn from a rich variety of perspectives.
Tackling Disadvantage at "Grass Roots" Level
Ours is a very individual "people to people" approach to development. Instead of sending food or money, we send women and men from a wide range of professions who want the chance to make a real difference in the fight against poverty. These volunteers work in partnership with colleagues and communities to share skills and learning and jointly achieve change.
But we have to be realistic in our expectations. We commit to long-term development goals and long-term partnerships and focus on sustainable development rather than the short-term relief of certain problems.
VSO also works to address the structural inequalities and barriers that prevent people from exercising their rights. We use our experience and our supporter networks to work for changes in policy and practice - rich and poor countries - that reduce disadvantage.
VSO is by far the largest independent volunteer-sending agency in the world. Since 1958, we have sent out more than 29,000 volunteers to work in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific region and, more latterly, Eastern Europe in response to requests from our overseas partners. At the moment we have around 1,500 people working in placements in these regions.
Shared Partnerships, Shared Benefits
You only have to talk to VSO volunteers to realise that they gain from their experience, personally or professionally, as much as they contribute. Many will enthuse how fascinating it was to explore a different culture at first hand. Others will point to the friendships they have made. But many will also tell you how their professional talents have been stretched, and how they have learnt new skills that will significantly enhance their career prospects on their return home. If ever it was true that "you get out what you put in", VSO is proof positive.
This experience makes volunteers passionate in challenging misconceptions about developing countries. In the current climate, it is more urgent than ever that we work to achieve a global community where people of all cultures are seen as equal, learn from each other and share a common sense of rights and responsibilities as global citizens. VSO builds on this experience and passion to support a range of global education activity.
VSO isn't only about Working Overseas
Back at home thousands more people give their time to support the organisation. In the UK, a network of 70 local groups stretches from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands. These groups not only support VSO, they also link communities in Britain with some of the poorest parts of the world.
VSO - Web Site
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